The Intern
by Isaac A. Drake
Summary: You don't just trust children with weapons of increasing destruction. You trust teenagers with attitude (and a few years of training). A kind of Kanto retelling with older characters taken to their logical conclusions and only small tweaks to the canon team for now.
1. Town of Beginnings

Author's Note: So I've actually been playing around with this idea for almost 2 years. Kept hitting 'keeping pre-Sinnoh canon in line' issues with my other pokemon fic so I am gonna do something from the ground up here. I will be having the pokemon journey start at 14 instead of 10 bc frankly that's horrifying and limits storytelling options anyways. I'll be taking a lot of inspiration from Traveller and Challenger but still be going my own direction with this Kanto redo. I'll be treating egg moves similar to how Challenger does so that they aren't overpowered for example, however unlike both there will not be an alternate starter to Pikachu (sort of) and I will only slightly diverge from Ash's canon Kanto pokemon, and only to add other, reasonable, Kanto pokemon. (He will not get all three starters however). Also unlike both he will have traveling companions that are at least a little more than guest stars. It probably also won't be near as brutal as Origin of the Species or some of the post-SS Anne Traveller chapters.

Don't worry, Ninjetti and Secret Fire aren't cancelled, I just needed to shift what I was writing for a bit.

Chapter 1: Town of Beginnings

Our story begins on the second week of spring in the region of Kanto. Butterfree, pidgey, and all kinds of bug and flying pokemon could be seen flying back into the region as the snows melted. In particular the first flock of butterfree had already reached the Viridian Forest and begun laying the eggs that had resulted from last year's matings.

Young pokemon of all non-migrating species had begun hatching almost immediately. Within a month of the start of spring nidoran of both genders would leave their parents and live in large but weak herds with the occasionally nidorina or nidorino to protect them.

All around this spring was shaping up to be a fine one, especially for the teenaged humans of the region.

Every year at the beginning of Spring the Kanto Pokemon League accepted new trainer registrations, hundreds of newly fourteen year-old trainers registered. Some purchased a starter their family could afford, others were gifted a newborn bred by family, and some were just gifted a weak pokemon a friend or family member had gone out to catch for them.

However every year a lucky and talented few are given starter pokemon bred by the esteemed Professor Oak of Pallet Town. They are selected to carry Pokedexes and act as wandering research aids for the professor, collecting data as they are training and raising pokemon. Only trainers to be who score higher than ninety percent on his aptitude test are given these well-bred starters.

This year four teenagers from across Kanto qualified, and two were from Pallet Town itself.

It is not surprising when a child from Pallet qualifies, Oak often has interested pre-teens and teens working towards becoming trainers help around his research ranch. They care for pokemon, inspect enclosures, and often run small errands for him.

The two from Pallet Town were his own grandson, Gary Oak, and his top pokemon caretaker, Ash Ketchum.

Gary had scored the highest on the battle focused sections of the exam, to no surprise of his grandfather or really anyone that knew him. All Gary had ever wanted to be since he was a small child was the Pokemon League Champion, just like his idol, Lance. Now one would think Gary would take the idolization further and choose Charmander as his starter, however being around his grandfather's ranch he had already met all the starters, and he had found the Charmander to be uncannily shy and timid. That wouldn't do for his ambitions, so he was going to pick a spunky Squirtle that had already taken a shine to him.

Ash had a special touch when it came to caring for pokemon, in particular the problem cases. He just had a natural kindness and empathy to him when it came to the creatures. He had scared his mother to death when she came to bring him his lunch one day when he was ten and had just started working on the ranch and she had found him buried underneath two nidorino that had to her knowledge been very aggressive and been giving the Professor many problems. It wasn't until she had run over screaming that she saw that the two creatures had been nuzzling her son and licking at his face while he was giggling.

Delia Ketchum had never forgotten the sight of that and her little boy's stories of calming and playing with normally aggressive pokemon only grew with time.

That aptitude had greatly impressed Professor Oak, and after Ash had scored off the charts on pokemon care, psychology, and nurturing he had decided to give the boy a special treat upon his induction as a trainer.

The other two trainers were from other parts of Kanto. Leaf had been raised by her grandfather in Viridian City and had been attending Oak's summer camp every year since she was ten so she could realize her dream of becoming a Pokemon Researcher like him. She was bubbly in social interactions but very booksmart and intelligent. She was planning on picking the Bulbasaur so she would have a sturdy pokemon with plenty of ways to capture wild pokemon for study.

The final trainer was Damian Cross. He was from a wealthy Saffron City family and as he had done significantly worse on his short answer section of his exam than the multiple choice portion, just barely scrapping the ninety required, Oak had his suspicions that he had cheated somehow. However without proof he was going to have to give the boy the Charmander and a Pokedex just like he would with any other qualifying trainer to be.

So there they were, standing in Professor Oak's main lab receiving their pokemon. The professor had pulled Ash to the side before they began and explained he would receive his starter last, but that it would be worth the wait.

And thus Gary Oak got his Squirtle, Leaf her Bulbasaur, and Damian Cross his Charmander. It was only then that Oak turned to Ash, "Now Ash, since you scored highest on the pokemon care sections I have a special starter for you, one you may know already." He held off a hand to cut off the protest of special treatment from Damian, Gary would have likely protested himself, but he had become slightly attached to the young Squirtle he had chosen in the past few weeks while he researched his options.

After quieting the boy the old man produced a pokeball from his belt and released a pokemon that immediately turned into a yellow blur and latched itself onto Ash's neck.

The surprised young man let out a yelp and then when he regained his balanced his surprise switched to excitement, "Dio? Professor thank you!" Attached to his neck was a young pichu, Dio, short for Diode. It was the several months old offspring of the first problem pokemon he had handled for the Professor, a troublesome pikachu that had been eating the wiring of the lab when he first became one of the Professor's interns.

That Pikachu had swiftly become a hassle for the entire lab. Shocking the research assistants at inconvenient times and frying the machinery when frustrated.

It had taken months, but Ash and Professor Oak working in tandem had finally gotten through to the little creature.

And once they earned his trust all that was needed to get the little ball of energy to help out around the ranch, even protecting it from wild pokemon, was a consistent supply of ketchup.

Pikard, as Oak had named him in some pun on a television character he liked, had taken viciously to defending his new home. The Pikachu had reached astounding heights of power in the four years since Oak had captured him. And last year Oak had finally found another Pikachu that was acceptable to Pikard for mating and they had produced offspring. The professor was seriously considering consistently using Pichu from the two for extra starter pokemon in the future, it seemed Pikard passed down a proficiency for both Iron Tail and Volt Tackle, though those skills would still need to be heavily practiced to be useful.

This year was the experimental year, and Ash was the best to carry out that experiment.

"Oh a baby pichu? Wow, I thought you were getting special treatment but really you're just getting shafted there," Damian's input was scathing and bullying as usual.

Ash turned to Damian with a deep frown on his face, "Listen, I would not have picked any other pokemon than, Dio here had I been given a choice from every pokemon on the ranch! I helped tame his father and bottle-fed this little guy since he hatched! He's going to give you a big surprise by the time he reaches maturity."

A snort was his only response as Damian turned and exited the building with his charmander and new pokedex.

Once he was gone Leaf let out a high-pitched hiss, like an angry persian, "I hate that guy! He was a total jerk at the testing center too!"

Even Gary, who was confident to the point of cockiness at times had to agree, however, "Well he's never seen Pikard in action. I still remember seeing that tiny guy take out that fearow after only being grandpa's pokemon for like a week."

The professor harrumphed, "Indeed, now I think you all have other places to be? Such as fetching me a package from Viridian, Gary? Or seeing your mother before you run off, Ash?"

Both boys blushed, muttered apologies and began to run out of the lab.

"Ah! Also don't forget to send check in reports on anything interesting!" The professor's voice called out after them as Leaf followed them out at a more sedate pace.


	2. An Adventure Awaits

Author's Note: Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu was perfect for inspiration for this story. I almost wanna trade all my pokemon over to my roommate and start over again making sure to follow only the pokemon I bring into Ash's party.

Anyways Ash's party will have no pokemon that he doesn't catch in canon so long as he caught a pokemon of that type in canon. Which just leaves a Fairy-type, a Psychic-type, and a Steel-type opening. Which I will take suggestions for in reviews.

(Now I am counting Haunter as the Ghost but I could be convinced not to, especially if it were a dual-type that covered one of the other typings and this does mean he may get his pokemon from other regions earlier, through trades, gifts, migrations, competitions, smaller length trips to other regions, etc)

In fact the first of such is going to be in the next chapter.

Most of this was written waiting on my plane at an airport.

Chapter 2: An Adventure Awaits

Ash rolled his eyes as Diode rolled about the floor of his home in laughter.

The source of the young pokemon's amusement was Ash's mother going over everything he had packed into his bag for his journey.

"Alright, sweetie. Your TM case is in here, as well as your berry pack, your medicine pouch is stocked with potions, you have your sleep roll and tent, is there anything else we're forgetting?"

"Well I think we're forgetting that it's just me leaving and I'm just one person."

His mother pointedly ignored his comment and continued double and triple checking his packing, "Hmm...are you sure this is enough underwear?"

"Mom!" Ash yelped in embarrassment as his pichu howled in laughter in the loudest manner a pokemon of its size could manage.

Finally Delia Ketchum huffed, handed Ash his backpack back and then smiled.

"My little boy is growing up too fast now, next thing I know you'll be a Pokemon Master and Champion."

Ash laughed and rubbed the back of his head.

"Oh I don't know about that, Mom. I'm not even sure exactly what I want to do outside of my journey. Sure I wanted to be a master as a kid, but working on the Oak Ranch showed me there were a lot of other things too!"

She reached out and lightly tapped the brim of his hat, "Well that's good to hear, while I want you to do what you love I cannot pretend something safer like breeding wouldn't ease my mind."

Ash grinned, "Of course it would be a much better breeding business if I won a few championships and sold the lineage of a championship pokemon!"

Delia huffed at her son, "Oh you. Now get going on your journey, and since I love you and don't want you to have an excuse not to call I have a present."

With that she handed him a newer model Pokegear. Less bulky than the Pokenav and with slightly less detailed GPS mechanics, it was still an all in one phone, navigation device, music player, and word processor (dictation only however).

His Pokedex could handle the more elaborate reports he sent in to Professor Oak, but this way he could keep in touch via phone and e-mail with his mother and friends.

Ash thanked his mother for the gift and promised to call frequently before he finally took his leave, his pichu on his shoulder, and Route 1 in his sight.

Unfortunately for Ash Route 1 was really really boring.

He had actually been out here many times with Professor Oak when the professor had to deal with more dangerous than average pokemon on the route.

In fact, "Hey, Diode! Look there! It's the tree your dad split when he took out that fearow with Professor Oak a few years ago!"

The rodent's ears perked up and his eyes shone in pride.

Ash jogged over and decided to set up lunch at the base of the blackened v-split tree trunk.

After Diode finished his meal he tugged on Ash's sleeve and pointed up to the tree, "Chu, pichu?"

"Hmm?" Ash responded while thinking about what his new partner might want, "Oh! Do you want me to tell you the story?"

Diode nodded excitedly.

"Well then alright!" Ash packed his leftovers up and placed his bag next to him leaning on the tree. He swiftly picked the pichu up and put him on his knee.

"So a few years ago, about a month after your dad first started working with Professor Oak there was a mean fearow leading a flock of equally mean spearow out here, harassing travelers and new trainers!"

The baby pokemon was staring at his trainer in rapt attention, listening to the first major exploit of his forbearer.

"So Professor Oak, deciding to give Jean Luc a chance to prove himself gave him first crack at the flock. At first this didn't work out so well, Jean Luc got beat up pretty bad by failing to dodge a Drill Peck. But it was overcast that day and eventually it started raining. And do you know what happens with electric moves in the rain?"

Diode nodded vigorously.

"Exactly! Jean Luc was able to let loose a massive Thunder attack that knocked the fearow and a good chunk of the spearow out in just one hit! That one hit kept going to the ground and split this tree right here!"

The little pichu squeaked in awe as his father's prowess.

"That was the fight that really bonded him with Professor Oak and I. After that he got a taste for battle and protecting the Ranch and started listening more to us. Eventually Professor Oak got him a Thunderstone and a mate and now I get to travel around with you! And we're going to make you super strong too!"

With that the duo packed up lunch and hit the road again.

It was not a long trek into Viridian City. Diode had to scare off a few slightly more aggressive pidgey and ratata, but Ash was not interested in catching any of them. Perhaps if one of the pidgey's had looked close to evolving or had shown any unique or unusual behavior. But it was not meant to be. The young trainer figured he may have to wait until he got into the Viridian Forest before he really caught any extra pokemon.

In fact, looking down at his pichu, to defeat Brock for his first badge he was going to need to catch an oddish, bellsprout, or evolve a caterpie into a butterfree. Or get really lucky and find one of the very few wild bulbasaur or another similarly rare pokemon in there.

Eventually after a few hours he and Dio strolled into the Viridian City pokemon center.

And right into two black clad individuals menacing the Nurse Joy with pokemon.


	3. Rockets and Routes

Author's Note: Yes I know my update order is completely random I'm a fickle person.

Anyways I mostly stopped updating pokemon stories bc there was some weird review-spam-fighting shit going on in the category a few months back and I decided to put pokemon on the backburner for a bit.

Here we get the first two of Ash's out of order pokemon. And yes, for purposes of the story it will be the same as the ones he later raises in the anime. Some other ones will not be identical to those he later raises, but they'll still be connected to those.

The real decision here is what Psychic pokemon to give Ash down the line, because he's never had one in the Anime and has only ever even borrowed a Spoink. In the Electric Tale of Pikachu he DOES have a Slowpoke for like a minute and a half but he gives it to Gary so we'll see what I decide on. Might even do a poll. Might just contrive a way that Diode can evolve into an Alolan Raichu to even further differentiate him from his father.

Chapter 3: Rockets and Roads

Ash would have been suspicious of the black uniformed individuals on a normal day, they weren't exactly extremely inconspicuous.

But threatening Nurse Joy openly with a grimer and a murkrow in an admittedly otherwise empty pokemon center was pretty brazen.

"Diode, thundershock the murkrow!" Ash quickly commanded, thinking to even the odds right out of the gate.

"Chu!" Diode yelled as he leapt off of Ash's shoulder and released as powerful a thundershock as his little body could handle without harming itself.

"Wha-?" "KROW!" The thieves and the murkrow yelled as the electricity hit.

Only, the enemy murkrow wasn't knocked out immediately.

As the thieves and their pokemon turned angrily around Ash could only think, 'Uh-oh!'.

Until something shifted on their faces. Suddenly they looked afraid.

"What, pray tell, is the meaning of this?" A voice came from behind Ash, who quickly turned around to be faced with the famous, or infamous if you were a sore loser, suit-clad form of Giovanni, leader of the Viridian City Gym.

"Uh...oh crap," One of the thieves said, looking over to his partner.

"We...we surrender!" The other one stuck his hands out as if for hand-cuffs.

The pokemon swiftly returned themselves to their balls, rather than face the wrath of Giovanni.

Ash did not pick up on the fact that they seemed to be personally afraid of Giovanni, as opposed to just his reputation.

A quick call from Giovanni and ten minutes later the police, led by the Viridian City Officer Jenny, were there to arrest the crooks.

Eventually they were left alone as Nurse Joy went about making sure the Center was back into good shape.

"That was a brave thing you did, young man. You cannot be that experienced of a trainer with just your pichu there, who are you?"

Ash straightened up, "I'm Ash Ketchum, Leader Giovanni, sir! I'm from Pallet Town, and I was interning under Professor Oak until I started my journey...umm well today, I started this morning," he added sheepishly rubbing the back of his head.

Diode was nodding vigorously along with everything his master said before copying his mannerisms to also sheepishly rub the back of his head.

Giovanni raised an eyebrow and then a small smile crept onto his lips, "Just today? That must make you just over fourteen. Interesting that a boy so young and inexperienced as yourself would jump in to such a dangerous situation without heed."

The gym leader frowned and pondered for a little, while Ash tried to find an appropriate response and failed.

"Yes I think you deserve a reward of some kind for your bravery," The man fished around in an inner suit pocket for a bit and then pulled out two minimized but oddly colored pokeballs.

"These are some special balls I acquire from a friend over in Johto. The silver one is a Moon Ball, made to catch pokemon that evolve with the Moon Stone, some incentive to travel through Mount Moon as opposed to across or around it in your travels, and the green one is the Friend Ball, which has an inner-environment that makes being inside more appealing to pokemon and thus makes them easier to tame," He placed them into Ash's bewildered but outstretched hands.

"A poor reward for defending the pokemon center of my city for sure, but as a beginning trainer that is the best I can give you. Should you come back and defeat me personally in a gym match however, I believe I will have a second reward for such a promising young trainer. But remember, I only personally hand out badges to trainers that challenge my gym with six or more. Towards this goal, some advice, during this time of year the route out west of the city leading towards Victory Road is full of young pokemon of good stock that just recently parted from their parent herds or flocks. Nidoran, phanphy, mankey, and even murkrow. Good luck, young Ash, I look forward to our eventual battle."

And with that Giovanni turned and left, as Ash stammered out a thank you.

With nothing else to do, Ash decided to spend the night at the center, Nurse Joy insisted on a VIP room that were usually reserved for League officials, and while Diode fell asleep swiftly, Ash stayed up a few extra hours to study the pokemon of Route 22, as well as pokemon that evolved with a Moon Stone.

The next morning Ash and Diode headed out to Route 22 fresh after a hearty breakfast in the pokemon center's cafe. Though Diode's had a bit more ketchup on it than Ash's did, a trait inherited from his father.

Ash was packed and ready to spend a few days out on the route looking for pokemon, if Giovanni was correct, and he had no reason to doubt the man, there were going to be a lot of semi-rare options that were at the perfect level to add to a growing team. And they wouldn't be available for very long before moving on to other hunting and migration areas.

His research the night before had shown that mankey often travel from Route 22, up through Viridian Forest, and then finally into the pine and aspen forests around Mount Moon and Celadon City as they grew in strength. The area south of Mount Silver between Kanto and Johto was actually one of the largest protected pokemon breeding grounds, vigorously defended by the Pokemon Rangers of the combined Indigo League, and Route 22 was the Kanto side where that boundary let up and young pokemon that left the breeding grounds left to grow stronger and more independent.

Ash was very interested in catching a mankey, as a fighting type would be very useful against the Pewter Gym, and would continue to be useful as Sabrina in Saffron was the only major gym leader in Kanto with a large type advantage against that type. Plus, Ash reasoned, it would be great to have a very mobile pokemon going into Viridian Forest to scout and help fight. Diode would fit that bill once he evolved of course, but he was young and that could be months away.

Of course also in consideration were any of the rarer pokemon that were usually Johto natives. He'd read that there were often sightings of phanphy, gligar, teddiursa, aipom, murkrow, and even the much rarer skarmory on the route. Of course he was far more likely to run into a small nidoran herd, a spearow flock, or the mankey he was interested in.

And, Ash mused as he and Diode crossed the marker of being two miles into the route, mankey weren't inconspicuous and would be easy to track, but, no reason to rush and avoid some good training.

As this thought crossed his mind he and Diode were confronted with a territorial spearow.

"Alright, Diode. Let's show him the thunder."

It was sometime after lunch, as well as five spearow, eight ratatta, and four pidgeys later that Ash found the tracks he was looking for.

A few scattered nests of branches broken down out of nearby trees and then abandoned before the inhabitants moved on.

The trees out on this route were too flimsy to hold the full weight of a mankey overnight, so they tended to group up at the end of the day, fight each other a bit, and then nest down together.

However, the trees were good enough for mankey to travel in, so Ash decided to follow the tree line and look for a mankey near any trees with broken branches from too much thrashing.

It wasn't too long before they found the traces they'd been looking for. A beat up caterpie slinking away back into the woods and a bunch of broken branches proved their theory.

Creeping as stealthily as possible, not being a particular talent of Ash or Diode's, they soon came upon the responsible mankey.

Or they thought they did. When Ash had Diode thundershock it it turned out to be a rock moved into a bush and covered in grass.

"Uh-oh," Ash said outloud, just in time to hear a loud, "Mochi!" from above as the mankey swooped down upon him and...stole his hat.

"W-what?!" Ash yelled, "Hey that's mine! Diode we gotta get it back! Thundershock!"

The mankey was far more acrobatic than that however, and spent the next few thundershocks taunting Ash and Diode as it dodged.

"Time to try something new," Ash finally decided, "The new move, Sweet Kiss!"

By amping up the power of his Charm move and changing it slightly, Diode sent out a doozy of an air kiss at the mankey and the mischievous pokemon was unprepared and became confused.

"Alright, we'll want to use a normal pokeball so hit it with a few thundershocks first!" Ash called, as his pokemon followed the command. Small streaks of electricity blasting out and into the mankey.

When it seemed subdued Ash threw his pokeball and was successful in catching his first pokemon.

"Alright! Great job Diode, and I got my hat back!" It was admittedly slightly singed but he'd take it.

"Let's get away from here and make camp, we can get to know our new partner there!"

Ash made sure as he set up camp to administer some potions to the mankey's pokeball and prepare extra food to try and endear himself to the little monster when he finally released it.

It was pouting when it came out and Ash sighed and took a moment to analyze it with his pokedex.

"Mankey, the Pig Monkey Pokemon. An agile pokemon that lives in trees. It angers quickly and will not hesitate to attack anything.

This mankey's ability is Defiant, it is male, and it knows the moves Leer, Scratch, Taunt, and Focus Energy. And capture date concludes it has the aptitude for Counter, Foresight, and Covet if trained."

Ash nodded to himself, "You're pretty strong, Mankey. And you seem to have a sense of humor, if I promise to feed you, let you occasionally borrow my hat, and make sure you get stronger will you join me on my journey? I'm collecting badges and plan to fight a lot of strong opponents."

The mankey seemed to frown, though it was hard to tell with all the fur. Then it opened one eye to look sideways and Ash, who had also held out some granola to offer the pokemon.

In a flash it had Ash's hat back on its head and was happily munching on the granola while perched on Ash's shoulders.

Ash's happy laughter rang out, "Well okay! I guess that's a yes! If you get down we can work on figuring out a name for you, okay?"

With a tilt of his head, and thus entire body, the mankey leapt down.

It took a while, going through options such as Goku, Thoth, and Hanu before finally deciding upon Sillus, the name of a legendary Aipom who once stole the weapon of an equally legendary human warrior.

It made sense to Ash that he'd want to be named after a trickster.

And so ended Ash's first day in the wilderness of Route 22.

What, Ash wondered upon being rudely awoken by something rustling through his bag, did he do to attract so many thieves.

The criminal this time, was a young phanphy, who appeared to have managed a few trunk-fulls of trail mix, in particular his bag of it with dried fruit and raisins in it, before digging deeper is what awoke Ash.

But, Ash being Ash, he quickly forgave the little creature and decided that empathy was the path forward.

"Hey little guy," The tiny elephant leapt up in alarm, "It's okay!" Ash said as the creature backed away, he quickly grabbed a handful of the trail mix and held it out, "Do you want some more?"

Nodding the little guy quickly moved back forward to eat right out of Ash's hand.

"You know if you want to eat more like this and grow really strong you could come with me on my journey? Would you like that?"

The little blue pachyderm looked up at Ash with big trusting eyes and Ash right there made a decision, he held out the Friend Ball that he had been gifted by Giovanni.

"This is a really comfy pokeball if you want to come with me."

Eagerly the phanphy hit the button and got absorbed into the ball, barely shaking it.

"Well that was interesting," Ash said outloud and looked over to where Diode was still sleeping like a log.

"Maybe some situational awareness training?"

And that's how Tantor joined Ash.


	4. Rival Rodeo

Author's Note: Poll's up for the pokemon-types I am having a tough time making choices over. Note that Ash won't only have one of every type for some types, but some of the rarer types he has never had pokemon of like these it is more likely for.

Short chapter, just the fight.

Chapter 4: Rival Rodeo

Ash sat on a stump a few hours west of Viridian as he headed back into the city. He had been training Sillus and Tantor on aggressive wild pokemon as they traveled, and while there'd been no major progress he had gotten to know both the mankey and the phanphy better.

The mankey was a territorial trickster, he liked to play pranks, often violent ones, on anything that invaded what he considered his space. Which now that he was part of a team included a roaming twenty or thirty yard radius around them as they traveled. He particularly enjoyed grabbing Ash's hat or mocking him behind his back while he talked. But Sillus listened to instructions both in and out of battle fairly well, though it took Diode mildly shocking him a few times for the out of battle part to really take hold.

Tantor on the other hand was certainly a young phanphy, he only had one move that he wouldn't have known right out of the egg, Flail, and was generally a playful and curious pokemon.

So as the scrub of the middle of Route 22 turned slowly back into the green and growing trees near Viridian City Ash contemplated what he was going to do with his team moving forward.

He had gotten very lucky in that both new captures were going to be good fighters against Brock. Diode wouldn't be able to do anything against the rock pokemon Brock used until he both evolved and mastered Iron Tail.

That said, Tantor didn't know any ground type moves to really allow him to pack a punch against rock types yet. His mankey would quickly learn Karate Chop which would allow him to crack open the defenses of Brock's pokemon. But the phanphy on the other hand didn't normally get any ground moves until much later, usually after evolution, unless specifically taught.

And it was as Ash flicked through his pokedex searching up methods and techniques for teaching phanphy moves like Mud Slap or Bulldoze that he ran in to his first trainer out on the route.

Ash's luck holding, they knew each other.

"Well hey, if it isn't my good friend Ashy-boy!" The cocky voice of Gary Oak called out, "I see someone else decided to branch out a little before crossing through the forest, good choice! Caught anything good yet? I sure have."

Ash grinned and turned to look at his oldest, and most antagonistic (even if it was in a friendly way) companion.

"Well I've caught enough that I wouldn't mind wagering a little three on three if you have, Gary?"

The other teenager puffed his chest out and took a pokeball off of his belt, "But of course! I'm just surprised that YOU had caught two extra pokemon. You're so picky about your lovey-dovey bonds and stuff that I thought you might raise your entire party from eggs instead of just your starter!"

Ash rolled his eyes at the taunting and pulled out his mankey's pokeball, may as well start mid-tier and flex from there.

"Let's just get this going, on three?"

Gary nodded and on three they both released their pokemon.

Ash having sent out his mankey, Sillus, and Gary having sent out a male nidoran.

"Focus Energy!" "Leer!" The trainers immediately called out their opening moves.

And as the mankey took its powerful stance and the nidoran's eyes glowed, Ash's smile grew very wide.

If one was looking very closely they could see that even as the Leer took effect, Sillus's eyes squinted in anger and he channeled his rage into his body.

The first strike was going to also be the last one with his boost from Defiant.

"Scratch! Show him who is boss!"

Gary also called out his Peck attack for Nidoran, but the pig monkey rushed in faster and stronger than expected, and the slash of his paw sent the poison point pokemon flying, almost ending the fight in one critical hit.

"What?" Gary yelled in confusion, "Try to poison it with Poison Sting!"

Sillus, arrogant with his Defiant boost and Focus Energy, had started prematurely celebrating victory and took the poisoned spray of needles straight into his back.

"You can't lose focus! Finish it Sillus!"

With even more anger the mankey turned around and let loose a barrage of Scratch attacks, almost a Fury Swipes, at the nidoran, sending it unconscious.

But the damage had also been done to him, those needles had surely poisoned him, as Ash could see the strength sapping out of his pokemon's muscles.

So both trainers returned their pokemon.

"Defiant, huh?" Gary questioned, "That's a rare ability for a mankey, I wasn't expecting it. Won't make that mistake in the future."

Once more the fledgeling trainers sent out their pokemon, this time a phanphy and a pidgey made their appearance.

Well, Ash thought, at least I know what a pidgey can do.

"Defense Curl!" Ash called out as his opponent commanded a Sand Attack.

Luckily by curling up Tantor avoided getting a face full of his opponents attack.

Gary seemed to favor stat decreasing attacks as openers to create openings, Ash decided.

Two could play that game.

"Growl, then use Oder Sleuth to guide your Tackle attacks through the sand!"

Throughout the morning and early afternoon of battles Ash had learned that Tantor didn't have the greatest instincts for battle, but that he could seemingly remember and execute more complex instructions than any of his other pokemon, with the unflinching determination of a child or younger sibling looking to make someone they looked up to proud.

Memory as long as a donphan's, rang true he guessed.

And the plan was working, the phanphy was pushing through blasts of sand and tanking small gusts of wind as the pidgey frantically tried to dodge the little elephant. First one, then two attacks got through, sending the little bird reeling.

"Grr..." Gary growled, "I know we haven't practiced it too much, but we have to use it! Uproar!"

An egg move? Ash thought in shock, not many wild pokemon are cross-breeds with true egg moves the way Diode or apparently this pidgey had. At best they had inherited some minor affinity for more quickly learning moves they normally could access like his mankey.

But the proof was there as a raucous cry echoed out from the pidgey's small yet apparently powerful lungs.

It sent little Tantor spiraling backwards and into a nearby tree, forcing Ash to recall him.

"Well it's all tied up, Gary," He started to motion Diode forward but Gary held up his hand.

"Nah, I've got to concede, I've seen what Diode can do with Thundershock already and both my pokemon left are not cut out for tanking electricity. I grabbed a squirtle remember?"

Ash nodded, seeing the wisdom there, "Well I'm guessing before too long you'll have a nidoking to take care of that weakness, huh?"

Gary nodded, "I specifically caught him with that in mind. It might take a while to find or buy a moon stone, but I plan to no longer have to worry about your little second generation monster by the time the Indigo Conference rolls around!"

Their conversation continued on that vein as the two friendly rivals walked back to Viridian City, both planning to heal up and then take on Viridian Forest the next day.


End file.
